Cangyan Shan
Encyclopedia
Jingxing County
Jingxing County is a county in the southwest of Hebei province in Northern China. It is under the administration of Shijiazhuang City.-Administrative Divisions:Towns:...
, Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
Province, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, famous for its combination of natural mountain scenery with historical man-made structures. It is located approximately 50 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang is the capital and largest city of North China's Hebei province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about south of Beijing...
and close to the border with Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
Province.
Geography
Mount Cangyan forms the eastern tip of the Taihang Mountain RangeTaihang Mountains
The Taihang Mountains are a Chinese mountain range running down the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces. The range extends over 400 km from north to south and has an average elevation of 1,500 to 2,000 meters. The principal peak is Xiao Wutaishan...
, its tallest peak has an altitude of 1,000 meters. The scenic area covers 63 square kilometers (180 square kilometers according to other counts). The vegetation of the area is a forest of cypress
Cupressus
The genus Cupressus is one of several genera within the family Cupressaceae that have the common name cypress; for the others, see cypress. It is considered a polyphyletic group...
and Blue Sandalwood (Pteroceltis tatarinowii) trees.
History
The most famous building complex on Mount Cangyan is the Fortune Celebration Temple . It was first erected during the Sui DynastySui Dynasty
The Sui Dynasty was a powerful, but short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. It was followed by the Tang Dynasty....
and is said to have been the place where Princess Nan Yang, the daughter of the Sui Emperor Yang, practiced Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. The various structures of the Fortune Celebration Temple (the Tablets House, the Hall of the Heavenly Kings, the Hall of the Giant Buddha, the Bridge-Tower Hall, the Buddhist Canon Depository) are well integrated into the mountain topography. The central landmark of the complex is the Bridge-Tower Hall . As the name suggests, it is supported by a stone arch bridge spanning a narrow gorge. The bridge has a span of 15 meters and stands 52 meters above ground, it is constructed from 365 stone blocks. Under the bridge a stone staircase with more than 360 steps leads up to the summit.
Cangyan Shan was used as setting for filming some scenes in the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
", which according to the movie's story take place on Wudang Mountains
Wudang Mountains
The Wudang Mountains , also known as Wu Tang Shan or simply Wudang, are a small mountain range in the northwestern part of Hubei Province of People's Republic of China, just to the south of the city of Shiyan.-Geography:...
.